EXCLUSIVE & UPDATED: The Lionsgate project has been off, then on, then off, and now on again. The studio in May had been on the verge of announcing that Arnold Schwarzenegger was starring in its long-in-development Western* titled Last Stand, set up as the English-language debut of director Kim-Jee-Woon. Then the actor pulled out just before his personal scandal went public and deep-sixed his marriage to Maria Shriver. But now the actor is back in the project and aiming to test his popularity post-divorce. I’ve learned that Arnold’s deal with Lionsgate is not nearly as rich as the one CAA made for him in QED International’s Cry Macho, which was a $12.5M salary plus 25% first dollar gross back end. (See my previous, Schwarzenegger Closes Next Film: Worldwide Rights Will Sell At Cannes Fest) Poor Bill Block brought that project to Cannes in the middle of Schwarzenegger’s scandal and now it looks to be dead or at best delayed until February 2012. So now Last Stand would start in September of this year. ”It’s a property which a zillion directors fell in love with: the good, the bad, the weird,” a Lionsgate exec told me when I first heard Schwarzenegger was in. “It’s an old-fashioned Western* specifically designed for a 63-year-old broken-down guy with a moral decision whether Arnold decides to stand up for his town. We always needed an iconic figure for it.”
[The studio exec who read the script told me it was an oater -- but it's not. "It was miscommunicated to you that the film is a Western (although it has that classic feel for sure with Arnold as a Sheriff!)," a very apologetic insider now says. "It’s more of a Fast And Furious at the border with high speed car chases, drug cartels and the like."]
When I asked Lionsgate if Arnold is still a star despite the scandal, an exec assured me, “I can tell you from The Expendables it was electrifying when Arnold came on. He is still a big piece of news.”
Liam Neeson had been attached at one point, but he kept pushing it back as his schedule grew more crowded. Ultimately, Lionsgate moved on. Arnold then fell in love with the movie several months ago, and Lionsgate spent the ensuing time snagging a director. The studio had already pre-sold the $30M-budgeted movie overseas with Liam so will tell its partners about the switch to Arnold shortly. Schwarzenegger briefly teamed up with Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee to create a toon superhero based on his nickname while in office, The Governator. But that project got put on hold because of the scandal, too.
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He’s a big piece of something all right!
Nice one, B.S.
Isn’t he making a porno, maybe a gay porno would be appropriate for him
What scandal? Seriously, does this qualify as new news anymore? I don’t hear anyone talking about it. The collective soaked it up and moved on pretty fast.
Not that I don’t agree with your initial sentiment, but aren’t you talking about it right now?
Talking about what?
The scandal he is involved in is that he commuted the attempted murder sentence of one his politician friends kid Fabian Nunez. The whole family is vermin and Arnold didn’t give a rat’s azz that young Nunez drove a knife into an innocent college kid’s back and chest. Arnold is the lowest form of scumbag politician known to man and their all pretty bad.
You are wrong, there are several politicians that are much lower on the scale than he is. Start with Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Reid, Franken and Emanuel and his predecessor Daly.
Leave it to the right to make this a political argument. The bottom line is, he’s a bottom feeder and it doesn’t matter what party he belongs to. Shouldn’t you be trolling on a FOX site…? Perhaps sending Palin and Bachmann love notes?
Shouldn’t you be getting your orders from TinkerKoz?Really,though,compared to the rest of the morons in Hollycommieland,Arnold’s probably fits in just fine.He’ll have a career again,but not nearly as big as before.
Who’s being a wing-nut? Ahn-old isn’t half as corrupt as the Chicago Thugs that mugged the executive branch this term. He’s not as corrupt as the Clintons (Lewinsky/Whitewater/Vince Foster), the Kennedys (Chappaquiddick), Blago(Get yer congressional seat for the low low price of…), or Nixon (where does one start?), for that matter. John Edwards and his scandal. Al Gore’s behavior in the 2000 elections, threatening to lobby the Electoral College directly to overturn the voting results. I don’t recall the governator directly threatening the stability of the very process of democracy itself.
In fact, The governator isn’t a major league player in that nest of vipers at all. Methinks you’re the one whose partisan slip is showing.
Ah, another WriteWingNut comment. It’s like these morons keep having to spew what they know is false to convince themselves they’re not sub-human.
The ability to sound condescending doesn’t make one right, WGIR. It just makes one sound like a self-absorbed left wing-nut who thinks they’re more evolved than the average hairless ape. Neither of the extremes are anything less than partisan drones, competing I-mobs.
Since Arnold is suffering from brain damage living with the left-wing weenie Kennedy family, I suspect his movie career decisions will be as bad as his political decisions. It’s hard to get rid of those fleas once you sleep with the left…er…dogs.
Arnold went beyond and below a new low level of politician slime when on his last day i n office he commuted the sentence of his Assembly Speaker, Fabian Nunez’s son’s murder sentence from 16 years to seven.He didn’t notify anyone of the decision as he was suppose to. Today a judge allowed the law suite against the decision to move forward.
Arnold proudly stated he reduced the son’s sentence because of his friendship and loyalty to the Assembly Speaker. A funny thing on Arnold’s loyalties. He forgot his loyalty to his wife and children and his family in favor of his loyalty to his dick…
Write Guy, could not agree more! Biggest bunch of crooks we have ever seen, and their leader, King Obama, is the worst of them! They make Arnold look like a Saint! Frankly, I am looking forward to his return to the movies!
I don’t know all the details here but what I heard was that he didn’t commute the sentence. He had it reduced. Also It was not Nunez that did the stabbing but someone he was with. Is this correct? I don’t believe the Governator should have stepped in anyway, and let the judicial system take its course. But I’m wondering if you’re overstating your case.
Nunez had his own knife. He used it to stabbed a kid less than a 1/8 of an inch from his heart. He stabbed the kid two times. If this were anyone else they would be sitting in jail for life…
You are correct Kman. The murder happened in San Diego where I live. The district attorney, a Republican, did not take kindly to Arnold’s commutation of Nunez the night before he left office. It just proves how arrogant he is, like fucking the maid in Maria’s house while she’s pregnant. But that’s personal. The Nunez commutation is a travesty for anyone who has followed the case. If you haven’t, like you WriteGuy then Google or Bing it and know the facts before you spew stupidity.
Oh kinda like fucking your photographer while your wife has cancer, eh?
The Son of Nunez Scandal was Gov. Arnold’s moral dilemma and we know how that one turned out. Perhaps he at least can get it right in the movie, eh?
(NOTE: I was just kidding in my “What the heck” comment, above.)
Esteban Nuñez was a punk and a thug who actually got off light with his original 16 year sentence. The Governator was a RINO and really turned out to be not much better, if not actually worse, than Davis, who was booted out to make room for him.
Fabian Nuñez worked with Arnold to pass the state’s ridiculous global warming law and he is also a business partner of the governor’s chief political advisor at the consulting firm Mercury Public Affairs.
But the thing is Arnold had several scandals going on… the reason this one (the whole Nuñez pardon nonsense) didn’t get as much press or have legs as long as one might expect was that, first, it was a case of one “person of color” preying on another “person of color”. To have been a big deal the perp would have had to have been white and the vicitim Hispanic. Second the benificiary of the pardon was, as I mention, a “person of color” – would have been a huge story that would have gone on for a long time had he pardoned a white guy.
Just sayin’!
You… you mean that Arnold is really a DEMOCRAT?????!!!!!!
Ya.. ya mean that ya actually thought Arnold was a Republican?
Yeah right, married right inta th Kennedy family who dumped his A$$ when he was no longer a value ta him. Did ya actually thank that Maria didn’t know about his sleepin around before an durin thair marriage?
If ya did would ya make an offer on a bridge I would like ta sell ya.
If we’re not going to se a movie just because the star cheated on his wife, then Hollywood’s in serious trouble.
What he did transcended “cheating”, IMO.
But scandals aside, who cares about seeing Arnold in a movie anymore?
I’ll save my dollars for better and more interesting actors.
If only there were talented actors and movies worth seeing…..
THERE ARE—- It’s called Turner Classic Movies!!!!
Like shia lebouf? Or meghan fox? Or vin diesel? Come on.
I WOULD NOT SPEND A DIME TO SEE HIS UGLY FACE
Integrity has to count at the box office….I won’t see any Arnold movie, based on what he did to his kids and what he did to the state of CA, not to mention the Fabian Nunez crime.
So nice to see libs getting religion….
Actually, you’ve hit on the solution. If we DID stop going to see movies made with immoral actors, then Hollywood WOULD be in trouble and would be forced to clean up it’s act and create better, more family-oriented entertainment. No need for some “movement” or anything dramatic, just “opt out”. Your dollars are “votes”. Simply quit “voting” for people and TV/Movies you find offensive. Very simple, yet very effective, if enough of us did it.
Good comment! If you want to improve the invirnment you live in,
watch what you support. Hollywood still wouldn’t catch on though.
But just keeping your dollars for a good movie would enable you to
grow quite a bank account.
” invirnment ” ???? I guess you’re right. See what happens when the public education system suffers from support?
The only downfall to a box office boycott is that the MPAA and the Hollywood scum will follow the lead of the RIAA and point the finger at piracy for their loss in revenue. They just can’t come to terms with the idea that the American public is sick of the talentless crap that they attempt to force-feed everyday and would rather not waste the greenbacks at the box office any more than they would enjoy flushing their hard-earned cash down the toilet by purchasing the repetitious garbage from the latest pop star.
The only Clint Eastwood/Malpaso movie I’ve never seen had Sean “Shotgun” Penn
most people dont understand the so cal lifestyle.
…you mean “most Americans”…because ‘so cal’ is mostly umm, how can I put this… ‘not American’.
This`ll need an exceptional casting dir. to wrap Arnie in talent & draw. (think Demi Moore in Charlie`s Angels)
I certainly hope it is. Hollywood and all it’s liberals needs to blow away in the winds.
“It’s an old-fashioned Western specifically designed for a 63-year-old broken-down guy with a moral decision ..”
Arnie is going to be delivering moral bon mots? With a straight face? Now that’s funny.
hahahaha. I was thinking the same thing. I love the sweet irony of that quote. Even when I know he’s acting, I can’t raise my suspension of disbelief that high.
Small misprint in this article: it’s not “LAST STAND” it’s
“ONE NIGHT STAND”, HI-ohhh!!!
Oh David, SN-NAP! Well-said! LOL!
Did anyone ever believe that Arnold was monogamous throughout his entire marriage before the scandal hit? My first reaction to this scandal was, “of course.” I think we have all moved on. Welcome back Arnold!
no one other than the multitude of women involved care about his consensual schtupping..it’s the use of public monies to pay for hookers..guard hookers..as well as his long history of non-consensual sexual assaults on women who were usually too scared to say anything.. see la times 2003
Wow.
Just like Slick Willy.
Only schmucks should pay 25% first dollar to Arnold. Puhleez! Now he’s got the trainwreck factor so I guess it could justify paying him that. But for him to go back to acting, when the types of films have changed so much – he feels like a Dramatisaurus to me.
IT PROVE ONE THING THAT THERE IS NO BAD SCANDEL THAT WILL HURT A HOLLYWOOD MOVIES. ARNOLD GOT A WINNER ON HIS HAND. I MAY WAIT UNTIL THE DVD COME OUT TO LOOK AT IT. YOUR TRULY CHARLES DAVID HASKELL
HEY ALL CAPS GUY, EVER WONDER WHY NO ONE ELSE LEAVES THEIR CAPS LOCK ON?
I’m always excited about seeing a western …did I say ‘always’?
Arnold’s back folks. deal with it. Although I would’ve loved for him to come back as King Conan with John Milius directing.
King Conan. Yes, by Crom now THAT suggestion has merit!
Goody! I can’t wait to see it!!! I love his movies! Welcome back!!!!
Maybe Tiger Woods should be his co-star.
What’s a western without a sidekick?
If he does another movie, I’ll be sure to see it. I like the big guy. As for him cheating, he took care of the kid and woman. Better than most in the public do.
Lets not forget, a man can not cheat ALONE. It requires a woman and this one knew the wife.
But lets not talk about the woman — right?
At 63 he is still a better action actor than most half his age. IMO
No way. This isn’t his first time to the trough. The man didn’t have the decency to leave the house — she is well rid of him and typical male reaction to say he “took care of the kid”. WTF does that mena? He wrote checks? Children need fathers — real men — not some ship in the night who’s name appears on a check. As far as I’m concerned, this guy’s career ended back in the 80′s — which is where he belongs. Good riddance. Smart move for Maria to get away from this guy quickly and to move on. You go to the “big guy’s ” movies. You’ll be in a theatre with 30 others.
Why is it alright for guys like John Edwards, David Letterman and Eliot Spitzer to be unfaithful? Oh, right … they’re not republicans. But neither was the Governator really.
Why is it alright for guys like John Edwards, David Letterman and Eliot Spitzer to be unfaithful? Oh, right … they’re not republicans.
Well you almost had it. Libtards are morally bankrupted and so is Hollyweird.
will he have to learn English first…? to play in a western? or is there a steroid for that?
I say this on the news that it is slated to be a western where boys have always become men at an early age. Normal and natural for Arnold to have a son with either an Indian or Hispanic mother in the American West. Embrace the kid Arnold – and, my God, drive a stake right through the Shriver family at the same time. “So you’re not going to invite me to Thanksgiving in Hyannis Port are you?”
Arnold is intriguing and what he does in his personal life is his issue to deal with. I will go see the film for the actor/character that is Arnold. He is way more interesting than many of the newer leading men in Hollywood.
Whoa whoa whoa…
Arnold?
In a western??
Sounds vaguely oxymoronic…
Shades of the Lonesome Rider!
I Know I’ll Watch it, and So Will Millions of Others!
IMHO (and WT? do I know anyway) He is better off without Maria. She seemed to have corrupted his thinking with her Leftist Kennedy ways. Washing himself clean from the Kennedy clan can only be a positive!
I still remember his speech at the 2004 Republican convention where he said… Quote – “I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. Then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military.
Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, “What party is he?” My friend said, “He’s a Republican.” I said, “Then I am a Republican.” And I have been a Republican ever since! And trust me — And trust me in my wife’s family, that’s no small achievement. But I am proud to be with the Party of Abraham Lincoln, the Party of Teddy Roosevelt, the Party of Ronald Reagan and the Party of George W. Bush!” – End Quote.
That’s the Arnold I want to see again. Sad for the kids though.
“We must always recognize and combat the folly and the danger of the left.”
Libertarian_Thinker
The fact that you so rigorously tout your love for Arnie makes me very sad for you.
Big flop. I hope it’s a BIG payday for him. It’ll be a big LOSER for the moron producers and Schwartzenegger’s last movie. Welcome back!!!!, indeed.
Don’t know about anyplace else but at the Polo Lounge? 3 deals that I know about vaporized for Arnie and now he wants back into Hollywood bad but Hollywood is singing, “They want to bring back Arnie and we say no, no, no”.
Sorry Arnie, we have no more room for Republicans that are bad actors or is it bad actors who are Republican. Doesn’t matter, either way Arnie save whatever Maria doesn’t get and find an apartment at Venice Beach because that’s all you’re gonna get.
I love seeing arnold in movies and really don’t give a flip about the real life crap. I see him as an entertainer and enjoy his movies. Period.
That’s because you sound like an Amoral Tool.
Can’t wait to see it on cable.
He probably doesn’t yet know about the secret scene in the script where Mad Maria rides in on Diablo, her dark horse with fiery hooves, and strings him up by his penis.
OOOoooo….I like the way you described that! Put it in the movie!I’ll pay to see that! Again and again!!!!
That red henna dyejob he’s painting on his scalp oughta just scream “OLD WEST”